NBA Rumors: Latest Intel on Role Players Still on the Open Market

To paraphrase musical auteur and paparazzi BFF Kanye West, it's about time for the 30 teams across the NBA to tuck their summer in. 

It's time for general managers to take their families on vacation and for players to start their private workout sessions rather than balling before a capacity crowd. Hell, even the Drew League is over. With MLB's trade deadline coming today and NFL players dropping like flies on an almost hourly basis, the NBA's time in the spotlight for this summer is over.

The dead months are here.

While that fact will certainly harsh your mellow as a fan—that's what my grandpa says kids are saying nowadays—it has to be worse for players hanging on the fringes of the Association. The big contracts have already been levied out this offseason. Some have been deserved (e.g. Paul, Chris), and others, not so much (e.g. Jefferson, ALOLOL). 

Either way, for players still looking to cash paychecks with David Stern's smiling mug—I'm assuming that all NBA paychecks are adorned with 30 different trademarked Stern smirks (the league will go to direct deposit when Adam Silver takes over)—the mellow months are the worst. Not only will some of these players be fighting to get consistent minutes with their new clubs next season, but they may be fighting to get guaranteed money, period.

There comes a time when every player has to reevaluate where he stands inside the NBA spectrum. For players unsigned coming into August, that time is now. (Except for you, Nikola Pekovic. We cool.)

But for those non-Pekovicians out there, the time for self-reflection is now. Luckily, there are enough teams in need of help that many of these guys will wind up being signed soon. With that in mind, here's a quick look at the latest intel we have on role players looking for a new deal. 

Mo Williams Meets With Grizzlies Brass?

Admittedly, Mo Williams is a little overqualified to be here. In terms of role players still remaining on the market, he's easily the best one available. He's been a regular starter for the vast majority of his career, is just 30 years old, and knocks down threes at a nearly 39-percent clip for his career. 

If the role players remaining on the market held a banquet, he'd stand out like Tom Cruise presenting an ESPY—some things just don't mix.

But, alas, Williams is still strangely on the market and gets lumped in with these remaining players. Whichever team signs the 30-year-old point guard will likely be getting true value on the open market, as there isn't much left to offer from most teams other than mini mid-level exceptions.

However, Williams may be in some luck. The Memphis Grizzlies are a contender in need of a backup point guard. They have $4.46 million left on their non-taxpayer exception (h/t HOOPSWORLD), assuming $550,000 of it is being used on second-round pick Jamaal Franklin. That'd be about the going rate for someone like Williams if I were running a team, though his management likely saw dollar signs when the Chase Budingers of the world started getting more than $5 million per year.

Lo and behold, Williams' representatives and the Grizzlies' brass have seemingly connected the dots. According to Geoff Calkins of The Commercial Appeal, Williams and Grizzlies CEO Jason Levien had lunch Tuesday to discuss him possibly joining the club:

While it's unclear just how that lunch meeting went—I'm assuming it went well, because the food in Memphis is amazing—this isn't as cut and dried as it looks.

Why, you ask? The Grizzlies don't want to pay the luxury tax. They have $67.537 million in guaranteed money on their payroll for next season, not including the cash owned to Mike Miller. (It'd be about $69-ish million if you were to include Miller, assuming he receives a minimum contract.) Including the non-guaranteed contracts already on the roster, Memphis is already at $70.143 million.

These decimal points are key because the NBA set the 2013-14 tax at $71.748 million. Memphis could get under the tax by making a trade this offseason or during the regular season, but it will at least be interesting to see how much Levien is willing to dip into the mid-level to sign Williams. 

Odds are it won't be as much as you think.

Josh Childress Rejects Overseas Offer, Getting Interest from Three NBA Teams?

Remember when Josh Childress turned down $33 million from the Atlanta Hawks in 2008 in order to play overseas in Greece? And do you also remember when the Phoenix Suns decided to give him $21 million over three years upon his return in 2012, only to subsequently amnesty him after two horrendous seasons?

Well, it seems the NBA has finally caught up to Childress being a not-so-good basketball player. He spent 14 forgettable games with the Brooklyn Nets last season after being signed post-amnesty, shooting 28.6 percent from the field and scoring a total of 14 points.

Though he's just 30 years old, Childress is barely hanging onto the fringes of his NBA life. It's a strange decline for someone who actually did show promise at one point in Atlanta as a two-way player. 

With his NBA offers drying up, you'd think Childress wouldn't be so choosy. However, that's not the case.

A source told RealGM this week that Childress has rejected a "lucrative" offer from European giant Olympiacos and is focused on taking an NBA deal:

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Free agent forward Josh Childress is receiving strong interest from three teams on a potential veteran’s minimum deal, a league source told RealGM. Childress has focused his career on the NBA, and he rejected a lucrative offer from European League powerhouse Olympiacos this offseason for an opportunity to stay in the league, a source said.

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The Sacramento Kings and Philadelphia 76ers are the two teams in the most consistent contact with Childress' representatives, according to sources close to the situation:

I'm not sure what Childress has left in the tank. His athleticism was obviously nowhere near its former form in Phoenix or Brooklyn, and without that trait, he's a nearly unusable player on both ends. Childress, at his best, was a solid wing defender who could slash to the rim and finish creatively in the restricted area. The current version can do neither.

Philly and Sacramento make sense, though, simply from a low-risk sense. Neither team is going anywhere next season—both should be in the top five in the ping pong chase—and there's a small chance that Childress could find health and effectiveness in either city. Even if he doesn't, Childress might wind up being just another notch in the race to land Andrew Wiggins.

Delonte West, Knicks Talking About Deal?

If you follow this space, you know I've already openly implored the Knicks to sign Delonte West. It is not for any virtuous reasons or because I particularly care about what type of basketball fit he'd be behind Raymond Felton—all of that is secondary.

I'm rooting for this deal merely as someone who enjoys horrible, train-wreck reality television. Putting West with Metta World Peace, Kenyon Martin, J.R. Smith and many more volatile personalities would be a circus. Someone would get suspended, release a rap album or get themselves in trouble with a pop star—maybe all three in the same night.

Imagine my delight with this report from Ian Begley of ESPN New York:

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The Knicks have had "conversations" with representatives for free-agent guard Delonte West, a league source confirmed. The team has not offered West a contract and, the source cautioned, there is no guarantee that an offer is coming. 

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So...you're saying there's hope? Yes? Yes. Good.

From a basketball standpoint, West never deserved to be given his walking papers from the Mavericks last fall. He's still not 30, plays solid enough defense and knocks down 37.2 percent of his threes for his career. He's basically a slightly lesser version of Williams, with exponentially higher outward competitiveness. Williams knocks down threes at a higher clip and is an easier talent to contain, but you could have made the case 12 months ago that a minimum-salaried West might be preferable.

That's not the case now, though—not whatsoever. West's personality issues are real—he's bipolar, a disease that hasn't helped matters—and he's enough of a risk that he could damage the entire psyche of a locker room. 

These Knicks are already taking their risks on questionable characters. Smith is an effective sixth man, Martin has calmed down a bit with age and World Peace has evolved from team cancer to mere nuisance, but Carmelo Anthony isn't exactly the most agreeable character in the world, and neither is Raymond Felton. Adding another character risk to the locker room could throw off the precarious balance that may already have been thrown off-kilter with World Peace.

I want this to happen for selfish reasons. You want this to happen for selfish reasons. But it shouldn't happen from the Knicks standpoint.

West probably deserves a job—just not one anywhere near New York. 

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